Selfie My @rse!

[Capn Bloggs]

Missile selfie: Did this Aussie pilot just take the best 'Top Gun' photo ever? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)



I can see the GoPro on the canopy bow!

Great "shot" though... Must be using that new thronomister-based rocket fuel: no smoke or flames!

[BuzzBox]

The missile's engine doesn't fire until the missile drops away from the aircraft. See the following video of an AMRAAM launch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaARvDSPbYY

[porch monkey]

Maybe so buzz box, but how do you explain the fact that the missile is already accelerating out past the airframe?

[The Banjo]

Bloggs,

Feeling out gunned and out done by a gen y are we........

[Hempy]

I'm tipping that the naysayers here would have this photo in a 1000x1500 print in pride of place if they'd even had the chance to take it themselves.

p.s the AGM-88 is smokeless and solid fueled.

[BuzzBox]

An AGM-88 launch from an F-16. No smoke and not much in the way of flames.

[Capn Bloggs]

Originally Posted by Banjo

Feeling out gunned and out done by a gen y are we....

"Coffee white and one, thanks Darl!"

[Hempy]

Standard NATO is now white and two.

Showing your age, but at least you don't have type 1!

[Strobe Runner]

Originally Posted by BuzzBox

The missile's engine doesn't fire until the missile drops away from the aircraft. See the following video of an AMRAAM launch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaARvDSPbYY

HARM not AMRAAM

[Capn Bloggs]

Originally Posted by Hempy

Standard NATO is now white and two.

I'd like two, but Doctor's orders...

[BuzzBox]

Strobe Runner:

HARM not AMRAAM

The missile in the video I posted is supposedly an AIM-120 AMRAAM. I posted it only to show that air-launched missiles fall away from the aircraft before the propellant ignites.

The missile being launched by the EA-18G in Bloggsy's original photo is an AGM-88 HARM.

[chute packer]

The HARM doesn't drop away though, its launched from the rail.

[megan]

You can see the nose of the missile reflected in his visor, which suggests to me it's for real.

[Trent 972]

Reflection is more likely the ALQ-218 antenna pod.
Outboard pylon each side carry AGM-88.
Photo still looks cool.
edit for Megan below.
You lost me there. Are there some words missing, or is my comprehension lacking?
18G only carries AGM-88 on stations 2 & 10. That image shows S10 with a LAU-118 rail as it would have to be to carry HARM. Interestingly S2 has what appears to be a LAU-127 rail (AIM-132, AIM-120 etc.).

[megan]

Reflection is more likely the ALQ-218 antenna pod

No Sir. Nose shape and fins give it away. Some launches, off the rail and smokeless.

[troppo]

hardly original. google FA18 Magic Carpet Ride. 1.18 mark....been around for 15(?) odd years...if you have been on pprune long enough not much is new

[Capn Rex Havoc]

Wasn't that you Bloggsy? Trying to fly straight and level?

[Capn Bloggs]

Now that's a REAL selfie!

[Stanwell]

Thank you for that 'Blast from the Past', Capn Rex.

[airtags]

GoPro on auto & single frame taken then helped with a little photoshop - slight reflection and minor parallax lens distortion gives it away.

Prefer Capn Rex's - (& the Melbourne version done by the News Limited snapper in 2013)

AT